Shawn Tanner
Shawn Tanner (born on July 30, 1985) is a programmer famous for his "Escape" series and Territory WAR series. Biography Early Years Late 90's Tanner fell in love with Newgrounds when he had first heard of it in the news and became a regular user. In 1999, Tanner had his first web design experience in Saint Francis Middle School when a computer lab was installed and worked with HTML and FTP. Legend of "Afro Ninja" So, it's Junior year of High School. I sported the same hairstyle I do today- the brown fro. I ate lunch with my friends TJ, Josh, and Alex. One day we're sitting there, in our usual lunchtime atmosphere. I went up to the line to get some lunch, and came back. I sat down and started eating. Alex looks at me. Alex: Dude where did that food come from? Me: Um... I just went up and got it... Alex: What the hell we didn't even see you go anywhere! TJ: Yeah, really man. Me: Well.. I did. Alex: What are you, some kind of ninja? An afro ninja?? Me: Haha, I guess so. Later that year Alex asked me to put one of his comic strips on the internet, The Adventures of Gary. I told him I'd do him one better and turn it into an animation with this new program I was messing with called Macromedia Flash. I finished the cartoon, uploaded it, and decided I needed an alias to go with it. "Shawn Tanner" just wasn't cutting it. I flashed back to that day at the luchroom... "Afro Ninja." Hmm...yeah... my name will be "Afro Ninja." Afro-Ninja Productions Afro-Ninja Productions first launched in October of 2003. It started off with little to no visitors. After a few redesigns and a professionally made character, Tanner decided to turn this hobby into a career. Creation of website: Afro-Ninja Productions 2000-2005 In 2000, Tanner got his first computer. A year after, he got a trial or Flash 5 and started to experiment. Tanner would soon create his first flash animation and get the idea to create his own website to host them, thus resulting in the Afro-Ninja website (launched in October of 2003). After 2 attempts at a logo, Tanner finally hired a local artist to draw a comic book style version of the Afro Ninja character. In 2005, Tanner learned many new types of web design and redesigned his entire site. He relaunched Afro-Ninja.com one last time. 2006-2010 Tanner first decided to switch his flash ability from a hobby to a job in 2006. His Territory WAR submission to an ArmorGames contest granted him first place. Games Title Release Dates Movies TBA Reception Shawn Tanner (a.k.a. Afro-Ninja) has received many awards and millions of views on his flash games. Some awards include 1st place in NG monthly awards (NG SIM), artist of the month in BrainwashStudios, and 1st place in the ArmorGames game contest (Territory WAR). His "Escape" games have also been reveiwed by JayIsGames. External Links *Afro-Ninja Productions *List of Games *List of Movies *Awards and Reviews